


Ouroboros

by Demus



Category: Tintin - All Media Types
Genre: Fantasy, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-01
Updated: 2012-03-01
Packaged: 2017-10-31 23:16:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/349415
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Demus/pseuds/Demus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's not unusual for Tintin to find himself in odd places, but the presence of gigantic serpents is a little out of the ordinary... (response to a prompt on the meme)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ouroboros

Of the many adjectives circling Tintin's head – large, huge, enormous, mighty – the only one that seemed completely accurate was 'gigantic'.

The subject of his musings, a snake, lay coiled opposite him in the semi-gloom of the cavern. It had the bulbous, spade-shaped head of a python and a giraffe-pattern jigsaw of greens and ochres decorating its scales. Slit-pupilled eyes stared at him, unblinking, venomous yellow, and a forked tongue slid out at intervals, scenting the air. The snake was calm, at rest, and offered no signs of aggression.

It was also gigantic. 

The looped coils of the python's body were easily as thick around as Marlinspike's grand oak trees, draped in great winding arcs as far as the eye could see, and the magnificent head, resting on a mound of scaled muscle, looked to be twice the size of Tintin himself. The reporter, sprawled inelegantly on his back, felt his initial shock recede as he came fully awake, the lethargic nausea of unconsciousness slowly starting to settle, at least enough for him to sit up with a wince. He'd evidently been knocked out, the dull throb at the back of his neck was testament to that, but there was no sign of his assailant.

_Worry not, little flesh, I have already eaten your enemy._

The words, sibilant, slithered across Tintin's brain as if from nowhere, soundless and oddly echoing. He glanced about the cave, pain flaring when he turned too quickly, but there was no sign of any other living thing; looking back at the snake, the impossible giant that dwarfed the enormous cavern, his sense of disbelief stuttered in feeble protest. “You...”

 _Clever prey-thing. Yes, I am real. Yes, I speak._ The snake's lips didn't move as the words materialised inside Tintin's head, female and distinctly amused, but her gaze had the unmistakeable gleam of intelligence as she studied him. _How curious – I cannot smell your fear. Perhaps I should kill you now and feed you to my children._

Panic leapt, salmon-bright, to charge his limbs with energy, but Tintin had ever been a slave to his curiosity, and wonder was quick to overwhelm the urge to run. “If you were going to kill me, it would've been much easier to do it whilst I was unconscious.”

In response, the endless coils shifted, rippling in tiny motions that scraped scale against rock, and a dry hiss ricocheted through Tintin's mind; laughter, he realised after a moment. The snake was laughing.

 _Clever_ , she repeated, her massive head rearing up into the air and weaving forwards until it was barely three feet away. Her tongue, thicker than Tintin's forearm, flickered out, forked prongs twitching as they tasted the air around him. _A pity. You would give my babies such strength.. No, I will not eat you. It was your call that summoned me._

He couldn't move. Not with those hypnotic eyes so close, the mouth that would only have to open a fraction to swallow him whole... Then the creature's meaning registered and he blinked, breaking the spell of paralysis. “My- My call?”

 _It was not the first time you have invoked my name_ , came the reply, tinged with a reproving note, as though the serpent thought Tintin was feigning his surprise. _But in your ignorance, you never knew to find a place where the Veil hung frail enough for me to pass through. There is so much magic in this smoky little world, and you tiny prey-things are so blind to it._

Perhaps he had finally received one blow too many, Tintin mused, as the mammoth python delivered its nonsense reprimand. Perhaps, at long last, his brain had given up the struggle against irreparable damage and the hallucination of impossibly-large reptiles was to form part of his new daily routine. 

The potential hallucination in question quickly put paid to this notion by sliding closer, close enough for her breath to ghost over Tintin's skin, close enough for her tongue to brush against him. She tilted her head, scrutinising him with a single eye, and said, _Do you doubt the evidence of your own senses, little flesh?_

“Only when snakes tale it upon themselves to become behemoths and indulge in conversation,” Tintin replied, staring up along the rounded muzzle into fierce, unblinking gaze. “I don't even know how I got here.”

_You fell. The other prey wanted to kill you, but I cannot think how you made it so mad._

“The other-” Tintin paused, an image tickling at his memory. “The crooked archaeologist! He was smuggling relics out of the country and we'd just rounded up the whole gang when-”

_He was delicious._

Appalled, Tintin gaped at the snake. Her dry chuckle echoed a second time and her mouth opened to display a row of thin curved fangs, nestled amidst pink flesh like enormous fishing hooks. _If I hadn't eaten him, he would have killed you. I protect what is mine._

Jigsawed scale shifted suddenly, the walls of muscles erupting into movement, and before Tintin could even think to move he was ensnared in the python's grip, trapped in a great coil of her body. He struggled fruitlessly, wriggling for all he was worth, and her tongue slid out once more, this time tapping gently against his chest. _I am the Great Snake,_ the giant serpent said, calmly. _I am the beginning and the end and the eternity in between._. Her laughter hissed inside Tintin's head. _If I were to eat my tail, you would call me 'Ouroborous'._

“What do you want with me?” Tintin demanded, writhing frantically even as the snake tightened her hold.

 _Want?_ For the first time, she sounded confused. _Only to live. To live so that the Universe might turn, to make the spirals spin as they always must. It was not_ I _who called_ you.

The realisation of the truth came as swiftly unbidden as it always did. “Great snakes,” Tintin breathed, his whole vision taken up with the Ouroboros' eye, and the Great Snake purred.

_Just so. And now, little flesh, it is time for you to sleep. You will not remember me when you wake._

“No, no, wait! I have so many questions-”

Drowsiness was already descending, dimming his eyes, slowing his mind, and warm scale brushed oh-so-gently against his cheek. _Sleep, child. Sleep._

*

“Blue blistering barnacles, laddie, how did you end up down here?”

Tintin, leaning on the Captain's shoulder as they made their way out of the cave, Snowy prancing at their feet, shook his aching head and immediately regretted it. “I don't know, Captain. I just...don't know.”

The Captain snorted, his arm tight about Tintin's waist, holding him upright. “Well, the next time you feel like being chased into the back-end of nowhere and falling on your confounded head, don't think I'm going to rescue you. Thundering typhoons, how do you keep getting yourself into these messes?”

“It must be luck.”

“Aye, and a never-ending to-do list for your guardian angel, whoever that might be.”

Despite the dizziness that fogged his mind, causing him to slur and stumble, Tintin grinned. “I'm sure they don't mind, whoever they are,” he said, cheerily. “It must make for fantastic entertainment!”

*

In a pocket of space somewhere beyond the Universe, where only mythical things can live, the Great Snake laughed.


End file.
